Last Thursday night (22 March), I was at the monthly Missouri Aviation Historical Society meeting in Clayton. We had a presentation by Fred Roos on St. Louis aviation pioneer Tom Benoist, who designed and built aircraft just before World War II. This included the flying boat used in the world's first scheduled airline service, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line in early 1914. We also had Rich Dann's presentation of US Navy/Marine/Coast Guard aircraft painted in retro schemes for the Centennial of Naval Aviation in 2011. Dann will also give that talk at the April IPMS/Gateway meeting (Tue., 17 April) (http://ipms-gateway.com).
The next day, I was at Saint Louis University--specifically, the basement meeting room at St. Francis Xavier College Church--for the annual Pro-Am Day by the St. Louis Chapter, Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). It was aimed mostly at college students, but myself and a couple of others went to do a bit of networking, plus a resume critique. I think it was time and money well spent. I was back in Clayton that night, at Bocci Bar for Stress Free Fridays' happy hour.
I refereed under 14 soccer games Saturday morning (24 Mar.) at Mehlville High School and Sunday afternoon-evening (25 Mar.) at Scott Gallagher Complex. In both sessions, I was on the line when a player was sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity. Both cases, the referee was a relative newcomer who hadn't dealt with this before. I was in a position both times to help the referee out, made sure the correct call was made, and also supplied the referees with report forms to fill out for the league.
After my games Saturday, I then drove to the Daniel Boone Branch, St. Louis County Library in Ellisville for the Cultural Arts Meetup. It was a presentation on the French region of Brittany, given by my friend Linsey Daman, artistic director of the Cultural Arts Center of St. Louis (http://cacstlouis.com/). It was an interesting presentation on the distinct culture, language, dress, and customs of the Bretons (people of Brittany). There was an audience of about 15-20 for the talk, I estimate.
Following the meetup, I went to the Czech Educational Center in south St. Louis to take in their annual Czech Festival that Saturday, then drove to CRM Hobbies for a bit of browsing and chatting with fellow scale modelers there.
Dad was taken to the hospital this morning. He's been chair ridden lately and hasn't been able to eat much. Hopefully, the doctor will get to the bottom of this matter soon. I have a planning meeting for the 2014 IPMS/USA National Convention bid committee tonight at CRM Hobbies.
Later.
